Dr Kruger Side Stories
by GoldenSun13
Summary: One-shot stories which take place within my Dr. Kruger universe, but which aren't long enough to be classified as an "episode" and may not contain Natsuki.


A/N: I wrote this for the Mai-Multiverse "Underdog competition", which stated that it must have any pairing _but _ShizNat and had to include rain. To get a better feel for how I write the characters, please feel free to read my main story for this universe called "Always and Forever". This isn't required to understand the below though. It was pretty rushed at the end due to time; I'll try and arrange this once I've finished "A&F". Hope you enjoy :)

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><p>Despite the very European name, <em>The Queen's Maid<em> looked like any other pub in Osaka to the passersby: sticky floors; the faint scent of stale beer; a bar serving snacks and drinks of different shapes and sizes and the usual hub-bub of customers mingling. There was one thing though that singled this pub out in the mind of Captain Chie Hallard from all the other pubs. This was a table at the very back, which was slightly obscured from the other bar patron's eyes due to dodgy lighting; a place where two people can have a private conversation and maybe sneak in a few smoochies or three without being disturbed. On this table's surface were various symbols and dates scratched into the wood. Three of the most recent symbolised three of Chie's most important, happy events that happened during her stay in what has now become her home. The first one, dated 15.09.199-, was of the initials A.S. and C.H. surrounded by a heart with an arrow through it; the second had two rings, both with the same initials as the first, dated 03.02.199-; the last marking looked like a sheriff's star with _Cpt. C.H._ written inside. This one was dated 23.05.200-.

It had been a very stressful day for Chie, so she had decided to come and take her usual spot at this table and wind down. So absorbed was she in watching her fingers dance over these the three carvings, she failed to notice The Doctor's arrival with their beers until she heard the clink of glass on wood and the chair in front of her being sat on rather heavily. It had been a tough day for both of them.

"I've noticed them before," Stated Natsuki, nodding towards the markings, "What do they mean?"

Chie smiled despite her tiredness, "This one," pointing to the first, "is the day my wife, (then my girlfriend of about a month,) and I arrived in Osaka. We stumbled across this place and have been coming here for special occasions ever since." She pointed to the second, "This is the day I proposed to her and she said yes. I thought of every tacky proposal in the book, from the ring in the champagne glass to a silly poem. In the end, I was so tongue tied, I just pulled the ring out and said _Please...?_." They both chuckled at that. "I can be a smooth as I want with other ladies, but when it's my own, I know she knows how much of a goof I am, so all my smoothness goes out the window. Add to the fact that she still gives me butterflies..." Chie sighed. "Anywho, the last one is the day I got Captaincy. Aoi carved it before I arrived." A true smile lit her face now, one reserved for when she thought about her wife.

Natsuki took a sip from her bottle before asking, "so... How did you two meet?"

"I met Aoi on the playground in preschool. She was being bullied by this older kid, he was trying to eat her cookies or something. I went over, gave him a bit of a slap and we've been inseperable ever since." Chie pulled out her wallet to show Natsuki a picture of Aoi she always kept with her, where ever she went. It was of a beautiful brunette dressed in a white gown, her brown eyes glowing with happiness as she showed a bunch of pink blush roses to the camera.

"She's very pretty." Commented Natsuki.

"Yeah." Agreed Chie automatically, a goofy grin on her both paused to drink their beers, watching the people go by. Remembering what Chie had said about the first marking, Natsuki asked Chie: "Why did you move to Osaka?"

Chie sipped her drink in thought. It had been a long time since she really thought about that year. "Before the move, we lived in a small town on the outskirts of Hiroshima. As with most small, Japanese towns, everybody knew what everybody was doing and how. You couldn't walk to the shops without being stopped at least once by a friend or neighbour of the family. Not only that, but everyone expected you to stay home and follow in your parents footsteps. I was ok with that seeing as my Father was Chief of Hiroshima Police at the time; all I'd ever thought about becoming was an officer of the law so following him was a welcoming thought." She paused to wet her throat. "Aoi, however, found this... predicted small town life to be suffocating. It's not so much that she wanted to go to the city and make a big name for herself (which she has). It's more along the lines of her wanting to move somewhere no one knew anyone; where she could find herself and not who the elders wanted her to be. I, of course, did not understand this at first..."

_**August 6th 199-**_

The weather had been overcast all week and the whole town was expecting rain at any moment, but this could not stop an eighteen year old Chie Hallard from completing her plan. _Today's the day!_ She thought, smiling despite the butterflies flying round in her stomach. _Today is the day I tell Aoi Senoh how I feel._ A slight twinge of doubt slowed her pace as she walked towards Aoi's house; w_hat would happen to us if she says no? _ She shook her head suddenly, as if to shake the vision of Aoi laughing at her out of her head completely, before continuing along her way. _She won't say no. I can feel it... I know she feels the same... She must do..._

This constant internal struggle continued as Chie walked closer and closer to her destination, stopping only to buy a blush rose at the local florist, _Sakura_. Blush Roses were Aoi's favourite flower and reminded Chie of how her best friend would blush at a compliment. _I wish I could buy her a whole bunch of roses,_ Chie sighed as she left the shop, _One day, when it's possible for me to do so, I'll treat her like a princess, and not the maid she thinks she is."_

Another five minutes of what would have been nervous pacing, if she was not in fact going in one direction, Chie finally arrived at Aoi's house. After taking a deep breath, she rung the beel and waited. What she was not expecting was the tear stained face of Aoi to great her on the other side of the door. "Hey, what's wrong?" Chie asked, all her previous planning leaving her as worry came to take its place.

"I'm...um..." Aoi sniffed, "Come in and I'll explain." She stepped aside to let her dark haired friend through. "Not that I mind or anything, but why are you here? We didn't plan anything did we?"

"Ha... erm..." Nervousness came back to Chie as she scratched the back of her neck, "No, we didn't plan anything. I just thought I'd drop by... see my besty." Feeling something in her hand, Chie looked down to see the pink rose. "This is for you." When the rose was handed to her, Aoi burst into a fresh set of tears. Not so suave with the ladies just yet, chie didn't quite know what to do, until Aoi wrapped her in a squeezing hug.  
>"Thank you Chi-Chi." Came the muffled response, "this is the nicest thing that's happened to me all week." Aoi sobbed harder as Chie hugged her closer and began rubbing her back comfortingly.<p>

Once her tears had subsided, Aoi pulled back a bit; far enough to see Chie's face but still close enough to be in her friend's embrace. "Sorry Chie. I had another argument with my parents this morning... again."

"Oh!" Replied Chie, now understanding what was wrong.

"I received my letter of acceptance from the Universities I applied to at the beginning of this week but Father is still adamant that I go and work in his shop straight away and that a girl does not need an education when her family has had a successful business selling newspapers for over two hundred years."

"To which you replied that you want to write the papers, not sell them and that Hiroshima U is only twenty minutes away, so you could both study and work." Finished Chie.

"Well..." Aoi left the embrace and begun to pace nervously the sitting room floor; the rose twirling in her hand. "You see, when it was time for us to write our applications, Mrs. Yamada told me to apply to other, better universities seeing as my mock exam results were so good. She said I _deserve to go to an excellent University_."

"Which you do." Chie added.

"Thanks." Aoi blushed before continuing, "I applied to these various universities and they all accepted me except one... Hiroshima." Aoi resumed her pacing, "The thing is though, there is only one particular university I want to go to." Another pause, before she said rather quickly, "I want to go to Osaka."

Not quite sure of what Aoi had just said, Chie asked: "Where?"

Aoi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, before calmly looking at Chie and replying, "I want to go to Osaka U to study journalism."

Chie felt the air leave her lungs. Though her features remained passive, dread began to wash through her whole body; every part of her went numb. As young children, they used to pester Haru, the local train driver, about distances to other towns and cities and the times it would take to walk or drive or go by train. "That's... That is 1 day 22 hours by foot..."

"You wouldn't have to walk silly." chuckled Aoi, not sensing her friend's inner turmoil, "You could catch a train or drive. You passed your driving license ages ago."

"Yes, because I will have enough money to catch a train regularly and my Dad would just _love_ to let me drive his car all the way to _Osaka _and back!" Chie snapped sarcastically.

Aoi was momentarily stunned. "I... I thought you'd be happy for me."

"What? Happy for you? When my best friend is planning on leaving and never coming back?" Anger now coursed through Chie's veins.

"How dare you be so _selfish_?" Aoi's fist's were shaking as she stood in front of a person she thought she knew. "and how dare you think I'd just up and leave and not come back to see you!"

"Oh come on Aoi! How many times have people left here and lost contact with their old friends completely?" Silent tears began to fall from Chie's eyes.

"Why would that happen to us?" Aoi asked in a small voice, her own tears falling at the site of Chie's.

"Why would you want to... to be friends with a lowly small town police officer when you'd have all your big city friends up in Osaka?"

"I thought you of all people would understand!" Aoi sobbed loudly.

"Well you thought wrong!" Chie yelled back.

Not knowing what to do with herself, but being unable to stand in the same room as Chie, Aoi ran out of the room and out her house. Just that moment, it began to rain... hard.

_What have I done?_ The moment the rain hit, Chie immediately felt remorse for what she said. _It's been her dream for so long. How could I be like everyone else and just dismiss it!_Chie left the sitting room, grabbed one of the umbrellas next to the front door and ran after Aoi. "Aoi! Wait!" Thanks to her longer legs, she managed to catch up to the brunette, run in front of her and block her path.

"Please Hallard, just let me through." Aoi was dripping wet so Chie couldn't make out tears from raindrops. Despite this, she placed the umbrella over both of them.

"No. I want to apologise." Chie huffed from lack of air.

"Why do you care?" Aoi was looking everywhere but at Chie.

"Why does it matter?"

Aoi growled, "You really know how to make my blood boil!"

"Serves you right for making my heart stop whenever you look at me!" Chie snapped back before thinking.

"I should hope... hang on... what?" Aoi's anger fizzled out as she registered what Chie had just said.

"Today," Chie sighed, "I had this big plan of how I was going to tell you I love you." She looked Aoi in the eye, "I love you Aoi. I can't live without you. You moving away would kill me. That's why I blew up and I'm sorry. You being happy is more important to me than my happiness."

"It shouldn't be." Aoi replied quietly.

"It is, so get over it." Chie mock pouted, before saying seriously, "as soon as you said Osaka, thoughts of you getting married to some rich guy and having his babies popped into my head and I panicked."

"That's silly Chi-chi, you were the first to know-"

"You're gay... yeah. Well, love makes you stupid."

"Then I must be the stupidest person this side of Hiroshima."

"You're not stupid..." Chie paused, "Wait..."

"I love you too, you big goof!" For the second time that day, Aoi squeezed Chie in a hug.

"I've always wanted to join the police... every city has a department, maybe my Dad could recommend me to the Osaka branch?"

Aoi pulled back, "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"I'll move to Osaka with you. We could start over someplace new. You'd need someone to split the rent with and maybe, once we've saved enough, I could buy us a car and drive you to university and... back to our new home. Please Aoi, a two hour train ride is too far for me."

"You could always walk." Aoi stated, smiling coyly. She slowly ran her fingers through the rain soaked, black hair of her other half, "But I'd prefer it if you were only a few seconds away from me, in _our_apartment." Before Chie could register it, she felt warm, soft lips upon her own. As she closed her eyes, she embraced the feeling of Aoi's warmth now coursing through her, where once fear and anguish flowed. Not once had she ever felt this complete.

_**Back at the Maid 20-**_

"Wow. I thought that could only happen in books or movies." Natsuki stated, surprisingly quite emotional.

"Yeah, well you better believe it," Smiled Chie, "because I still don't know how I got so lucky."

A comfortable silence descended upon the table as the pair finished off their beers and Chie asked a passing waitress for another round. The laughter from other tables buzzed through the air before I topic Chie had wanted to bring up for a while now popped into her head, "So... when did you and Shizu-"

"No comment!"


End file.
